Yellowtail kingfish
Good
Prime. Cast stickbaits and poppers at surface activity, jig the deeper reefs, and keep a live bait out under a balloon.
Cronulla Fishing Report
Updated Mon, 9 Nov 2026 from live weather and tide data
Sydney’s southern beaches and Port Hacking: the Cronulla rocks and surf, and the sheltered bays of the Hacking, with Shiprock’s no-take reserve inside.
2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
Low 2:47 pm model
Air / High
15 °C / 18 °C
Wind
SSW 11 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Cronulla is fishing in its best temperature window, with the bite spread across the day. Today brings clear skies, wind SSW around 11 km/h, rising pressure near 1019 hPa and a high of 18 °C. Tides: high 8:11 am and 8:40 pm, low 1:46 am and 2:47 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 20 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:53 PM-1:53 AM and 11:29 AM-1:29 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Tailor
Fair
Rock ledges and beach gutters on the rising tide; metals cast and retrieved fast, or a whole pilchard drifted through the wash.
Mulloway
Fair
Fish the deep holes and the rock walls through a tide change after dark; live mullet, yellowtail or a large soft plastic worked slowly.
Australian salmon
Slow
Look for birds and surface splashes along the beaches and in the bays; cast metals, plastics or ganged pilchards into the school.
Tie on: Soft plastic on a 1/4 oz jighead · Small hardbody, shallow diver · Squid jig, size 3.0 · Fresh pipi or worm on a small hook. Prime windows: 11:53 PM-1:53 AM, 11:29 AM-1:29 PM, 4:49 AM-5:49 AM. Warmer at 22 °C. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
New South Wales requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from A$7.00. New South Wales fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing tailor here? Check the size and bag limits with DPIRD NSW before you keep anything; the Tailor page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Cronulla today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (05:48), sunset (19:30), the moon and today's score, with the modelled tide changes in the panel below. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:53 PM-1:53 AM and 11:29 AM-1:29 PM; minor 4:49 AM-5:49 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
A modelled tide curve for these coordinates and the forecast for the day.
Tides (modelled)
Modelled sea level curve from Open-Meteo Marine for these coordinates, datum mean sea level. Fish the moving water either side of each change.
A model, not the official prediction: times can drift by tens of minutes inside bays and estuaries. Check the Bureau of Meteorology tide predictions for the exact times before you rely on them.
Mon
LOW1:46 am-0.34 m
HIGH8:11 am0.92 m
LOW2:47 pm-0.41 m
HIGH8:40 pm0.49 m
Tue
LOW2:17 am-0.33 m
HIGH8:50 am0.86 m
LOW3:26 pm-0.45 m
HIGH9:20 pm0.38 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp15 °C
High / Low18 °C / 12 °C
WindSSW 11 km/h, gusts 25 km/h
Pressure1019.4 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 16%
Sunrise / Sunset05:48 / 19:30
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~20 °C est.
Why the tide matters here: tides and fishing in Australia.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Cronulla
The best day on Cronulla this week looks like Thursday 12 Nov, at 5 out of 5, against 2 today.
Best day this week: Thursday, 12 Nov — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 9 Nov — Tough
Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
- Solunar majors
- 11:53 PM-1:53 AM and 11:29 AM-1:29 PM
- Minor period
- 4:49 AM-5:49 AM
- Sun
- 05:48 to 19:30
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 26 km/h
- Rain chance
- 16%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Cronulla: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Tailor
Autumn and winter on the east coast; the run reaches K'gari (Fraser Island) in late winter, where the east beach from Waddy Point to Indian Head is closed to all fin fish from 1 August to 29 September
The surf and rock fish of the east coast, running north in autumn and winter. Fast, toothy and best at dawn, dusk and into the dark. Rock ledges and beach gutters on the rising tide; metals cast and retrieved fast, or a whole pilchard drifted through the wash.
Mulloway
Best: summer and autumn, especially after rain
Jewfish. The big silver prize of the estuaries, breakwalls and surf beaches: nocturnal, tide-driven and unforgiving of noise. Fish the deep holes and the rock walls through a tide change after dark; live mullet, yellowtail or a large soft plastic worked slowly.
Yellowtail kingfish
Best: December to April
The hardest-pulling fish within reach of the shore. Headlands, harbour markers, offshore reefs and the warm current in summer. Prime. Cast stickbaits and poppers at surface activity, jig the deeper reefs, and keep a live bait out under a balloon.
Australian salmon
Winter and spring on the southern beaches
Not a salmon at all: a hard-fighting schooling fish of the surf and the bays, from WA around to NSW. Great on light gear, poor on the plate. Look for birds and surface splashes along the beaches and in the bays; cast metals, plastics or ganged pilchards into the school.
When to come: the Cronulla calendar
Activity by species and month for the southern year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
Species activity by month
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Tailor
Mulloway
Yellowtail kingfish
Australian salmon
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 20 °C (estimated, not a reading).
Angler reports
Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. Nothing here is copied from a shop or a charter. The water log below tracks each day automatically.
No angler reports yetBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Cronulla today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Yellowtail kingfish led the card at good. High of 17 °C, wind to 32 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
2/5 Slow. The wind owns today. 37 km/h gusts make boat control the real battle. Yellowtail kingfish led the card at good. High of 31 °C, wind to 37 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Yellowtail kingfish led the card at excellent. High of 22 °C, wind to 19 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7.00, the same for residents and visitors. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and marine park zones are set by DPIRD NSW and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the New South Wales licence page before you keep anything.
Access
Cronulla anglers need the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days; the New South Wales licence page gives the rest.
About this water
Cronulla is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia, covered from the New South Wales reports and listed in all Australia waters.
Fishing Cronulla: the full guide
Cronulla and Port Hacking
Cronulla is the beach suburb on Sydney’s southern edge, on the peninsula between Bate Bay and Port Hacking, with surf beaches running north toward Kurnell, rock platforms around the point, and the sheltered bays of Gunnamatta and Burraneer on the Port Hacking side, facing the Royal National Park. The daily score and the modelled tide curve are both calculated for Cronulla’s own coordinates. Botany Bay has its own page.
Species and seasons
Tailor and Australian salmon run the beaches and point in the cooler months; yellowtail kingfish come into Port Hacking and around the headlands in the warmer months; and mulloway hunt the beach gutters and the deeper water of the Hacking at night. Bream are caught year round in the bays and around the rocks, whiting and flathead feed on the Hacking’s sand flats in the warmer months, and squid are caught over its weed beds.
Where to fish it
The platforms around Cronulla Point and the beaches to the north are the ocean options, and the bays of Port Hacking are the calm-water alternative. Shiprock Aquatic Reserve, a small area off Little Turriel Point at the western headland of Burraneer Bay, is no-take: no fishing by any method and no collecting. Further north, Boat Harbour Aquatic Reserve at Kurnell allows line fishing and spearfishing but restricts the collecting of invertebrates.
Reading this report here
The beaches face the open ocean, so a southerly or large easterly swell closes them and the point, while Port Hacking stays sheltered; the wind row decides which side to fish. The tide panel is a modelled curve for Cronulla, labelled as a model, and most useful for timing the run in the Hacking.
Licence, access and rules
Cronulla anglers need the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee, from A$7 for three days; the New South Wales licence page gives the rest. Sutherland Shire is a declared area under the Rock Fishing Safety Act, so a lifejacket is compulsory on the mapped high-risk platforms, and DPIRD’s bag and size limits apply.
Common questions
Can I fish at Shiprock in Port Hacking?
No. Shiprock Aquatic Reserve, at the western headland of Burraneer Bay, is a no-take reserve where fishing by any method is banned.
What can I catch in Port Hacking?
Bream all year, kingfish in the warmer months, whiting and flathead on the sand flats, squid over the weed, and mulloway at night.
Do I need a lifejacket on the rocks at Cronulla?
Yes, on the declared high-risk spots: Sutherland Shire is a declared area under the rock fishing lifejacket law.
Is fishing good at Cronulla right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Tide curve (modelled)
- Open-Meteo Marine, sea level height including tides
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- Pages checked
- The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on How our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.